Reminiscence
by Shadlez
Summary: Konoha nights hold disquieting memories for Naruto. A oneshot in Naruto's POV about his feelings after the return to Konoha, exploring feelings in the blond that he may not show to the world every day.


_**Disclaimer:** ... You'd have to be a bigger moron than Naruto to think I own these characters. _  
**Notes: **Guwah! I didn't mean to make all my fic titles start with the letter 'r'... I honestly didn't... >>;; Guweh. Forgive me, I didn't intend it at all... But on to more ... important things? **I thank all who has reviewed my previous oneshots!** Thank you very much!  
Well yes, I can't write humour, so I probably won't attempt it again. So, I shall give you angst filled character focus pieces that seem to be the only thing I can write that ends up decent. I _might_ end up doing something that has a plot and somewhat AU... but still not funny and _very_ much angst filled.  
But I'll shut up and let you read the actual piece... XP  
Not that you really read this...! XD

**- Reminiscence -**

Naruto waved enthusiastically after Sakura's retreating form. Today had been good, and he enjoyed their day together. Sai had become much more tolerable, and even amusing to some extent. Who knew the bastard had it in him to learn social etiquette.

He was flat out from the training Kakashi sensei had set him. Who knew cutting leaves was so hard? But then the old dog was right, it came to him much quicker using the clones. Naruto breathed in deeply, lifted a slightly trembling arm towards the night sky. Glimpses of the first stars sifted through the darkness of the night sky, far away and distant. Yet, as he stared at them through his splayed fingers, he thought they were almost close enough to be grabbed in his fist.

Just like Sasuke.

The train of thought left him distinctively depressed and pissed. Naruto sat up in the grass, and looked at the last leaf resting in his other hand. Almost effortlessly, it split into two almost equal halves. Naruto did not stay to watch the pieces flutter to the ground in the still night air. All that was left of his presence was a patch of dented grass and a clearing full of leaves.

"Times like this, Ichiraku ramen would be best for me," Naruto muttered to himself as he walked down Konoha's main street with his lower lip stuck out in a pout. "Though, too bad Sakura had to go home to eat, otherwise it would be two dates in a day!"

He lifted the flaps to the small restaurant and was greeted with a surprising sight. None other than Sai sat at bench, looking somewhat lost and unsure as he fiddled with a pair of chopsticks. Naruto blinked before he sat down next to his new team mate. He was still wary around this guy, since he did make all those rude comments about Naruto's manliness. Damn that bastard! What an unhealthy fixation for a man to have.

Still, after their last mission, Naruto had begun to understand the guy a little better. Though he wasn't about to forgive the guy for those comments just yet.

"Yo! What'cha doing here?" Naruto grinned infectiously, his eyes closing to slits as he plonked himself down unceremoniously down next to the dark-haired shinobi. Unlike Sasuke, Sai sometimes displayed an almost tangible sense of uncertainty that Sasuke never, ever displayed publicly.

"Ah, well I decided I'd try ramen," Sai replied sheepishly. "How was training? You look like a mess, Naruto-kun,"

"Heh, training was a breeze! I'll master this new technique of mine in a week!" Naruto replied as he waved to the cook for his regular. He then promptly laid his head on the bench none too gently. "But damn, it was tiring work,"

Two steaming bowls of ramen was placed in front of the two youths. Naruto flashed a grateful grin to the old man.

"Naruto-kun," Sai began as he poked at his bowl of ramen uncertainly. "Did you have a nickname for Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto almost choked on his noodles. He did not expect this of all things to crop up, and sure as hell didn't want to think about it either. The rumbling in his stomach abated as a familiar pain reared its ugly head. He suddenly felt more tired than he ever did whilst training. As expected, Konoha nights were full of ghosts that couldn't be avoided, even in the depth of a ramen bowl.

"Well, I supposed I did. I'd call him Sasuke-bastard instead of Sasuke-kun, or even Sasuke," Naruto replied, taking up a single strand of noodle and slurping it down noisily.

"Ah, right. So did he have one for you?" Sai asked, eyeing his team mate. He knew this topic was almost as taboo as calling Chouji fat. Since Naruto hadn't curled up nor punched him in the face, he pressed his advantage. Sai was determined to make friends with his team.

"What's all this now? You don't have to worry about nicknames and stuff you know. All of that comes naturally after being friends with someone," Naruto replied as he continued to play with his food. Oh yeah, Uchiha Sasuke definitely had a nickname for him.

"Yes, but I don't want to accidentally call you the same thing as he called you,"

"I doubt it, it was somewhat original,"

"Really? What was it?"

Naruto decided to wolf down a couple of mouthfuls before replying. Damn this guy, he's not sensitive to others at all. Not like Sasuke. Though he wasn't all that much better, at least the bastard didn't talk as much.

"He'd call me 'usuratonkachi' a lot. I'm not sure if it was the only insult he knew or if it really was a nickname," Naruto answered as he swirled the remaining noodles in the soup. The mouthfuls of scalding ramen hadn't helped as much as he thought they would have. He nibbled some more before a familiar grin was pasted across his streaked face. "Heh! I thought my nickname was better, it suited him to the max!"

Sai smiled in answer.

The rest of the meal was finished in less than half an hour. Neither of them said much, on either the weather or upcoming missions, but then Sai wasn't exactly the most forthcoming conversationalist. Even Naruto had his limits when it comes to one-sided conversations. Mind you, he could do it fine if he really had to. But then he didn't really want to talk too much, especially tonight. For the second time that night, Naruto wished Sakura was here. At least with her here, it wouldn't be so… lonely.

Naruto waved a quick goodbye to his raven haired team mate as the last piece of ramen slid down his throat.

After the heat of the little restaurant, the cool brush of the night air was welcome to Naruto's flushed cheeks. Slowly, the fox like grin faded from his face. As he traced a familiar path back to his apartment, he tried hard to ignore the warm lights that streamed from windows, tried to ignore the occasional laughter that drifted out of those affectionately bright windows. It was nights like this that he really hated, these empty, still nights that carried sound easily.

No such light awaited him at his apartment. No loving words of welcome, no ready made dinner still hot from the stove. Not even the angry admonishment of a parent waited for him in those empty rooms that he called home.

Naruto flipped on the hallway light, and clicked the door close behind him. As expected, no sound greeted him, only the lonely buzz of the refrigerator that came from the nearby kitchen. But then, Naruto wasn't really expecting anything to change. It was just that, today was one of those days that little annoying things were relentlessly thrown at him. As much as he loved Konoha, sometimes things were just a bit too reminiscent about this place.

He glanced at the photo of Team 7 as he stepped into the darkened bedroom. There was enough light from the moon and the hallway for him to just make out the sulky expressions of all but Sakura. It just had to be the first thing he focuses on, now hadn't it. Wordlessly, he tossed himself callously on to the bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment. The food in his stomach was nothing but dead weight, as he tried to think of things that weren't quiet as depressing as what he kept noticing around himself.

Thinking to take a shower, Naruto sat up and was about to reach for a change of clothes when an awfully drawn poster caught his eye. It was none other than his personal motivation poster he drew a very long time ago. It was when he first declared Sasuke to be his one and only worthy rival. Naruto snorted. He should make a new one soon, judging by the tears and dog eared corners that marred the piece of paper. Not that it was that neat to begin with.

His eyes caught the date on the old calendar next to the poster, which surprisingly corresponded to today's date. He almost laughed out loud at the irony. Circled in red, was angry scrawls spelling out the best prank to pull on a certain someone's special day. When he wrote it at the start of that year, he never expected that someone to have disappeared on him. There wasn't even a shadow of a doubt that haunted him at New Years when Kakashi gave him the calendar.

Damn bastard. It seemed Sasuke pulled the most unexpected prank of them all that year, that month, that day. And in total accordance to his shitty personality, it wasn't funny at all. Stupid bastard, he should cultivate a better personality. Naruto will teach him how to pull real pranks, not this heart wrenchingly bad attempt at a joke.

Three shurikens thudded themselves down the motivational poster, embedding themselves at perfect intervals down the messy scrawls that declared Naruto's intention to defeat Sasuke at all costs.

_Happy birthday, Sasuke-bastard. _

The sound of the shower pervaded the house, drowning out the sound of the refrigerator.


End file.
